Why, You Ask?

And now, Canada, which legalized medical marijuana all the way back in 2001, is seriously considering legalizing recreational weed for adults. A recently introduced bill by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would allow Canadians ages 21 and up to legally purchase and carry up to 30 grams of marijuana (just over an ounce) beginning on July 1, 2018. The proposal also has a home-grow option of up to four cannabis plants per household. If it becomes law, Canada would be the first developed country to legalize recreational weed, and only the second country worldwide to do so, behind Uruguay. Canada’s recreational weed bill is pure genius But there’s another component to Canada’s recreational bill that makes it pure genius. According to Trudeau, though a number of finer points of the bill are http://www.michiganmedicalmarijuana.biz still being debated, one of its core components would be a very low sales tax rate on recreational cannabis. Why, you ask? Trudeau’s primary focus isn’t on revenue generation for Canada, so much as weeding out (pun intended) the black market in his country. Price is easily the biggest differentiating factor between legal weed and under-the-table cannabis. People who operate in the black market don’t have to worry about paying taxes on the sale of their products, nor do they typically have marketing costs, or traditional brick-and-mortar expenses from having a physical store location. Legitimate businesses do have to contend with these fees and taxes, making it difficult to contend with under-the-table pricing.